Lions go one better with defensive coordinator

January 28, 2009

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Gunther Cunningham ran the NFL's second-worst defense last season. Now he's in charge of overhauling the worst one. The Detroit Lions' new defensive coordinator comes from Kansas City, where the youthful Chiefs finished 31st in total defense and registered just 10 sacks. His new team was even worse, allowing 517 points while picking off just four passes. Both were league lows. Cunningham, a defensive coordinator in the NFL for 10 seasons and the Chiefs' head coach from 1999-2000, was hired last week by new head coach Jim Schwartz, whom he served as linebackers coach at Tennessee from 2001-03. Lacking standout players like Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith, whom he coached in Kansas City, Cunningham didn't promise quick fixes for the league's first 0-16 team. He did say he hopes the Lions can get after opposing quarterbacks. "We want to be aggressive and put pressure on the quarterback," he said Tuesday at the Lions' training facility. "You certainly want to put that mark on the Lions. You can have players as good as you want at the back end, but the front makes them play better." Detroit's best current hopes are ends Dewayne White and Cliff Avril. White had six sacks and an interception last season and Avril, a third-round pick out of Purdue, ended his rookie year with five sacks. Cunningham wouldn't commit to a defensive scheme, saying evaluating players now on the roster is his most important job. It appears, however, that the Tampa 2 favored by former coach Rod Marinelli likely won't be in the playbook this fall. "Cover 2 (the basis for the Tampa Two) is a great scheme," Cunningham said. "Those schemes are playable, but you have to have great rushers. Rod tried to do his best with what he had and it didn't work out." Several spots on Detroit's defensive staff remain unfilled but Cunningham would not identify any candidates, deferring comment to Schwartz. The 62-year-old Cunningham spent most of his career in pro football with Kansas City, and said former Lions assistant Kurt Schottenheimer told him he'd see something familiar when he got to Detroit. "When Kurt told me about Mr. Ford (team owner William Clay Ford), I thought, 'My God. It's Lamar Hunt all over again," Cunningham said of the late Chiefs owner, after whom the AFC championship trophy is named. "It's rare that you get to work around families." The Lions did their best to make Cunningham feel at home. When he walked into his new office, he found a framed photo of Hall of Fame defensive back Jack Christiansen, with whom Cunningham coached at Stanford during the mid-1970s.